KINKEL, GOTTFRIED

born Aug. 11, 1815, Oberkassel, near Bonn died Nov. 13, 1882, Zrich, Switz. German poet who owes his reputation chiefly to his sympathy with the Revolutions of 1848. In 1843 Kinkel married the liberal writer Johanna Matthieux. The same year, his Gedichte (Poems) appeared and was favourably received. One of Kinkel's poetic epics, Otto der Schtz (1846; Otto the Marksman), which has been considered a forerunner of Viktor von Scheffel's Der Trompeter von Sckingen, was published in more than 70 editions and was mainly responsible for his influence on his contemporaries. His poetry is characterized by a sentimentality that is often found in German literature after 1848. In 1845 he became a professor of art and cultural history in Bonn, and in 1848 he turned to journalism, founding the newspaper Demokratischer Verein (Democratic Union). Kinkel took an active part in the uprising in Baden in 1849 and was sentenced to imprisonment for life. Through the help of Carl Schurz, however, he escaped to London, where he became a professor. His journalism in London was marked by a tendency toward compromise that was mocked by the revolutionary philosopher Friedrich Engels. In 1866 Kinkel became a professor of archaeology and art history in Zrich.